Staten Island, NY

Many electric, water, and natural gas customers throughout the country are being targeted by impostor utility scams each day. In recognition of Scam Awareness Week, Con Edison is sharing information on how to protect yourself against scammers.

To help spread awareness, feel free to share the attached scam alert poster and press release with family, friends, colleagues, or anyone who can benefit from fraudulent activity.

NEW YORK – The criminals who want to rip off Con Edison customers do not discriminate.

They prey on residential customers and business customers. They go after customers in New York City and Westchester County. The elderly need to be aware, but so do customers of other ages, including millennials. Scammers target English-speaking people and non-English speakers.

Since scams are a persistent problem for utility customers everywhere, Con Edison and more than 100 electric, gas and water providers have formed Utilities United Against Scams, which gives customers information they need to protect themselves.

The group has declared this week to be National Scam Awareness Week and Wednesday to be National Scam Awareness Day.

“Scammers just never stop,” said Christine Osuji, general manager in Customer Operations for Con Edison. “But by being able to recognize a few warning signs, our customers can avoid becoming victims. We want to make sure they have that information.”

Victims have sad stories. The owner of a small business in Westchester County loaded $1,000 onto a Green Dot pre-paid card after a scammer called her, claimed to be from Con Edison and said a crew would shut off service unless the owner paid the bill immediately.

This is a common scam. The swindlers sometimes tell the customer about a store near the customer’s home or business that sells pre-paid cards. The scammers can even make a Con Edison phone number show up on the customer’s caller ID.

Once the customer puts money on pre-paid card and provides the scammer with the card number, the scammer steals the money. These callers are not from Con Edison and Con Edison does not accept payments by pre-paid debit cards, by MoneyGram or similar transfers.

With MoneyGram, scammers may ask a customer to provide money from a bank account, credit card or debit card by going online or to a specified location. The money goes into someone else’s bank account or is available for the receiver to pick up in cash.

Never arrange payment or divulge account or personal information, including debit or credit card information, over the telephone, unless you are certain you are speaking to Con Edison. If you are unsure whether the caller is from Con Edison, call 1-800-75-CONED to check.

Just as menacing are impostors who show up at customers’ homes and businesses claiming to be from Con Edison. The scammers either try to get the customer to hand over money with a phony story or to get inside the house by saying they need to do work.

A restaurateur in northwest Queens got taken by two women who went to his restaurant dressed in Con Edison uniforms. They told the customer the company had a program that Latino customers didn’t know existed and offered to see that his bill was paid. The customer gave the women a copy of his bill and $1,800.

If someone comes to your home or business claiming to be from Con Edison, ask for identification. If you are still unsure, call 1-800-75-CONED or the police.

Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $49 billion in assets. The utility provides electric, gas and steam service to more than three million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York.